"Consistent with the theme of his latest book, Endgame: The End of the Debt Supercycle and How It Changes Everything, Mauldin believes Japan is rapidly approaching the end of the road paved with government bonds and a strong currency."

In Iraq, Exxon oil deal foments talk of civil war
"With their opposing armies massed on either side of the contested border dividing southern and northern Iraq, leaders in Baghdad and the semiautonomous Kurdistan region are warning they are close to civil war — one that could be triggered by Exxon Mobil."

"All this uncertainty - even the somewhat overblown risk of an Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear programme - might be manageable if not for one inconvenient fact: for the first time since the late 1960s, no government, corporation or cartel can realistically claim to have the spare capacity to backstop global demand in a sustained crisis."

As I've pointed out before, anything that runs on the detritus of industrial society is likewise doomed. -- RF

California refiners dreamin' of shale oil face hurdles
"Two years on, a gusher of U.S. shale oil production is finally starting to seep into California, where refiners in the country's most isolated fuel market are waging an increasingly desperate battle to curb costs."

Too Big to Flood? Megacities Face Future of Major Storm Risk
"As economic activity and populations continue to expand in coastal urban areas, particularly in Asia, hundreds of trillions of dollars of infrastructure, industrial and office buildings, and homes are increasingly at risk from intensifying storms and rising sea levels."